Reunion-year alumni, former Ambassadors for Friendship participants, and the Women's Soccer 1998 NCAA Championship team can now register online for the big event.

Alumni and friends will return to campus in June for Reunion 2010. The weekend's festivities include the new Breakfast with Brian kick-off celebration, an all-campus picnic, faculty mini-lectures, panel discussions on topics like changing careers and how women's lives have changed since 1960, a discussion led by President Brian Rosenberg of the book The Road by Cormac McCarthy, and special Saturday night dinners for the classes, clusters, and groups attending the event.

President Brian Rosenberg will hold a conference call with alumni and parents Thursday, April 29.

Old Main Forum is a new periodic conference call with President Brian Rosenberg. The first will be held from noon to 12:45 p.m. Thursday, April 29. All alumni and parents are invited to join Rosenberg as he unveils the college's Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center renovation and expansion plans and answers your questions.

There is no charge to participate from the United States. Depending on location, there may be a minimal charge for international participants. Please contact us for more information on international participation.

Dr. Allen Parchem '67 and Dr. Georga Larsen Parchem '66 have established an endowed fund at Macalester to support student research in psychology. Established in December 2009, The Allen L. Parchem Research Fellowship will be awarded annually to a psychology major to engage in collaborative research with a faculty member.

"This generous gift is one of the many ways that the Step Forward campaign is making an immediate and tangible impact across campus," says Kathleen Murray, provost and dean of the faculty. "Scientific research collaborations are pivotal for students: They offer an opportunity for students to learn to 'do' science, augmenting their intellectual grasp of scientific principles with the practical skills and problem-solving by which science advances."

The Allen L. Parchem Fellowship is one of 19 new endowed funds created through the Step Forward campaign to support scholarships, research, and study abroad. The campaign aims to raise $33 million for scholarships and $11 million to support student-faculty collaboration, study abroad, and service learning. To date, more than $30 million has been raised for these purposes.
· Learn more about the Step Forward campaign

Macalester teams are headed for warmer climates and toward some challenging competitions this week. The baseball team plays 10 games in the Phoenix area and the softball squad goes to Ft. Myers, Florida, for 10 games against 10 different teams. Macalester men's and women's golfers will play in a three-day tournament March 19-21 at Jekyll Island, Florida. The Mac tennis teams will be at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, where the men will play six matches and the women will play five. Macalester's water polo team travels to California to play eight games against teams from the Golden State.

Mac baseball began the season with a strong 5-0 start. They are now 6-4. Highlights of the season so far include striking out 18 players in one game to tie a 73-year-old college record. More on baseball here.

The softball team has a 2-4 start going into this week's road trip to Fort Myers. With six seniors on the team — Olivia Abbott, Ali Nystrom, Crystal Barriga, Amanda Cagan, Alison Phillips and Carly Klingensmith — all are optimistic about finishing strong. More on softball here.

Finally, join us in congratulating the men's cross-country squad, which has posted the fifth-highest cumulative grade point average among all NCAA Division III teams in the nation. More on track here.
· Keep up with the Scots here

According to U.S. News and World Report, Macalester is one of only 70 four-year colleges in the country committed to meeting "...the full financial need of every student using only grants and reasonable amounts of student work and federal debt." That's 70 out of 2,600 schools, or only about 3 percent of all four-year colleges in the nation.

"Macalester has always ensured qualified students can attend, regardless of family income," says President Brian Rosenberg. "We believe that an economically diverse class enriches the student experience and we are fortunate to have generous alumni and donors who agree and help enable the college to offer more aid than many other colleges. "

Shift in Macalester's forensics program to encourage greater participation

Beginning next fall, Macalester will shift its forensics program away from policy debate and instead offer students the opportunity to participate in other forms of debate, such as Lincoln-Douglas and Parliamentary style. The change is being made because student participation in policy debate has declined to just four to five students over each of the past few semesters. By continuing to expand the most popular forensics programs — Mock Trial and Model United Nations — each of which has about 30 students participating, and supporting other types of debate, college leaders hope to create more opportunity for greater student participation. Dick Lesicko, who has been a part of Macalester forensics for 30 years, will continue to lead the program. Macalester debate will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2012.
· More

"President's Day at Macalester College," a YouTube video released by the college on February 15, has generated a lot of buzz from Macalester alumni, students, parents, faculty, staff, friends, and even people with no relation to the college. In just one month, it has been viewed more than 34,100 times by people around the world, mentioned on a half dozen blogs,and covered by the Star Tribune,WCCO Channel 4 TV, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Comments left on Facebook and YouTube include:

"This is the funniest video I've seen in a long time."
"So good! Made me miss Café Mac and the Nard."
"Love this. I think that the best way of fundraising now is for Brian Rosenberg to have his own stand-up show."
"Makes me proud!"
"I loved this, and donated to the Annual Fund (even though I am not a graduate, and have no affiliation to Mac other than having a friend who works there). Brilliant."
"I am extremely proud to be a part of this community and I want to thank people whose creativity and hard work makes this college one of the most amazing academic environments in the country."

Ed West '95, an Alumni Board member and a member of the M Club board of directors, exemplifies what it means to be a Macbassador. Ed is building a "Mac Family" in the Seattle region that incorporates fitness, family fun, and support for Macalester athletics as part of the alumni experience. Ed has helped organize "Mac Night at the Mariners" game for the last two years and also rounded up 25 Scots to run in the 2009 Susan G. Kommen Race for the Cure. Ed's crowning achievement to date was last year's MS 150, in which 25 alumni participants biking and camping across the Pacific Northwest raised over $5,000 in charitable contributions — more than any other college or university team.

Ed's next event could be coming to a city near you soon. He aspires to create "Mac Nation," an effort coordinating alumni chapters in different cities to participate in or lead local community service projects on the same day. One dream, he says, is to have an MS 150 Macalester team in every state. As well as contributing to the community, Ed also gives to the Annual Fund and understands the importance of supporting the college financially. "Mac alumni are special — we have a passion for changing the world. By giving back to the college, you can change the world tenfold. You are creating opportunities for others to give back."
· Sign up to be a Macbassador
· Make a gift to the Annual Fund

Forty alumni from the M Club came to campus to talk careers with current student athletes.

Earlier this month about 40 students and 12 M Club alumni gathered to discuss careers, graduate school, and networking. The annual event is sponsored by the Student Athlete Advisory Council and the M Club.

Career night is an informal chance for Mac athletes to mingle with local M Club members and discuss job search strategies, how to go about graduate school, and career paths. John Mountain from the Career Development Center also attended and edited student-athletes' resumes.

The Alumni Board elected three alumni and two students as new members at their meeting earlier this month: Mary Hartle Larson '58, Claremont, Minn.;
Rich Melin '58, Tucson, Ariz.; Brooks Edwards '78 P'13, Rochester, Minn.; Anna Faber '13; and Will French '13.

The five new alumni and student members will begin their first term on the board in October. In the same month, Khaled Habayeb '03 will move into the role of president of the board after serving as its president-elect.

East coast alumni are in luck: The Macalester concert choir, directed by Eugene Rogers, will be performing two free concerts this month in Dover, Del., and New York City.

The concerts feature premieres by two Macalester composers: Jan Gilbert's "Songs of Transformation," based on Persian classical music and the poetry of Hafez, and Carleton Macy's "O Rosa Bella," based on John Dunstable's tune of the same name. Music of Bach, Brahms, and others will also be performed. The concert will conclude with several standard vocal jazz settings, such as "Birdland" and "Blue Skies," and will end with a special tribute to Macalester and its East Coast alumni.

Thursday, March 18, 7:30 p.m.
Presbyterian Church of Dover
(hosted by Wesley College)
54 South State Street,
Dover, Delaware

Sunday, March 21, 3 p.m.
First Presbyterian Church of New York
12 West 12th St.,
New York City

Following the New York City concert, alumni are gathering for a special send-off reception for the choir. To attend this reception, register here by noon Thursday, March 18.
· Explore the Macalester Choir's website